Thank you for pulling the plug on flag@whitehouse.gov!

Dear Mr. President,

Yes!! Thank you for shutting down this monitoring of rumors. I was happy to read this in the morning news:
"Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26188.html#ixzz0OXVdHcQW"

We, Americans, are not looking for perfection, we are looking for an administration willing to listen to us the people who are part of this nation. We know we make mistakes, it's the humanness of us all and when we recognize our mistakes and rectify them we become even more loved by others. I am grateful that your administration is listening to the people and rectifying your mistakes. This will endear you to the people.

Yesterday I was talking to a man in his fifties, it didn't go so well. He is a devout democrat, truly devout and I was telling him that I have been emailing you. I am not quite sure where or why the conversation went south but south it went.

I asked him about this collecting of rumors that could be sent to flag@whitehouse.gov. I wasn't clear if he really knew about this but he adamantly agreed with it. He thought it an excellent idea.

He called me self-righteous and honestly I can't even remember why I was given that label. The conversation became confusing to me. I had warned him I am not smart enough for a rousing debate of the Ivy league sort. I didn't need to warn him I don't think there was any Ivy league debate going on between the two of us. I deal in simple, common thoughts and ways on a issue that makes more sense to the person next door than the person in the dorm.

He wondered what I thought about the Health Care Reform and I commented that I thought the Administration needed to give it time. He said it needed to be pushed through or it will never happen. I said that I didn't know enough about it and I needed more clear information. He didn't seem to hear that. By his reactions I could tell he thought I was preposterous for wanting more information. I believe he translated my caution about the speed of pushing the bill as a total disagreement with the bill.

He also made it perfectly clear how ridiculous it was for me to have our state representative come, pre-election, to my house to talk about the state of affairs. The state representative is a republican and a Christian. I think that combination for him is nauseating. I had not remembered telling him about the state representative's visits but clearly he was tracking the political events in our home.

I told him he was putting me in a box and this began what I call the monkey act. He mimicked everything that I said and before I understood how far he was going to take this we were into a mirror, mimic scene. "Caps For Sale" have you and your daughters read this? That's all I could think of when he repeated everything I said.

It went like this:

"You are putting me in a box, " I said.

"You are putting me in a box," he replied.

"I can't believe this."

"I can't believe this."

"Wow."

"Wow."

Thankfully two of my friends came to the door. They wanted to help clean up after our daughter's wedding this weekend. As you can see there's not a whole lot of wisdom that went back and forth between the fifty year old man and myself. I thanked him for coming and said goodbye.

I love a debate. I enjoy talking with people who have opposing views. I revel in diversity,I have never surrounded myself with people of the same views. When I am with people who are all alike I am bored and the word that comes to my mind is "milk toast." But this was no debate, this kind of banter doesn't even come close to a debate.

All this to say, I desire for our nation to be filled with people of opposing views who are willing to talk and listen, talk and listen, talk and listen. Wisdom is listening, thinking, processing, calculating, not reacting without thinking, nor rushing headlong into a decision without calculating.

Mr. President, I believe I am seeing wisdom come out of your administration. This is not surprising to me. I know you are more than capable. You have been gifted by the Gifter, this in and of itself marks you a remarkable man. I ask you to raise the bar and encourage us to be civil and cordial with one another as we discuss our views.

You showed us how we can come together after hurtful words. In your backyard you had Sgt. Crowley and Mr. Gates come over for a beer. Thank you for that! As a president you can encourage people to think and not rush into passing bills before they are truly understood.
We look to you for clear leadership! Lead with wisdom. Just make sure it's wisdom from the right source.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Burkholder